RIPON, Wisconsin – Ten members of the Ripon track and field and cross country programs have been named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team as announced by CSC on Tuesday.
 
Sam Forstner, Rainier Villanueva, Jacob Jumbeck, Matt Seeber, Sam Trzebiatowski, Alison DeNamur, Mikayla Flyte, Kalyn Otzelberger, Kiki Sherman and Sam Kobylski all were honored for their work on the track and in the classroom.
 
To be eligible for academic all-district honors, student-athletes must have a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or above while sitting in the top-50 regionally in an individual event either in the indoor or outdoor season, based on TFRRS performance list rankings. To be eligible in cross country, runners must have finished in the top-50 of the 2023 regional meet.
 
Forstner, a senior Finance and Economics major from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, was the Midwest Conference runner-up at the 2023 MWC Cross Country Championships in October, becoming just the second Red Hawk man in program history to be named All-MWC four times. Taking 47th at the 2023 North Regional, he also is just the second male in school history to run a sub-25 minute 6K, putting up a time of 24:54 in 2023.
 
Villanueva, a junior Economics and Finance major from La Mirada, California, had three top-50 individual performances in the North Region in 2023-24. In the outdoor season, Villanueva had the 18th-fastest 800-meter run time, going 1:53.58 at the MWC Outdoor Championships. In the indoor season, he was ranked 37th in the 800 (1:55.32) and 48th in the mile (4:16.83).
 
Seeber, a junior Mathematics major from Lakewood, Wisconsin, was a long-distance specialist for Ripon this past season. His outdoor 10K time of 31:08.06 was ranked 27th in the region, and his indoor 5K performance of 15:09.79 was 47th in the North Region.
 
Jumbeck, a senior Exercise Science - Physical Education major from Galesville, Wisconsin, produced the 29th-fastest indoor 800 time in the region this season, going 1:54.76 at the MWC Indoor Championships. In the outdoor season, his 800 time of 1:55.75 and his 1500 time of 4:00.12 at the MWC Outdoor Championships were 45th and 49th in the region, respectively.
 
Trzebiatowski, a junior Chemistry-Biology major from Custer, Wisconsin, tossed the javelin 49.19m at Lawrence's Fox River Showdown in May, giving him the 26th-best javelin throw in the North Region this season.
 
DeNamur, a junior Anthropology and History major from Elcho, Wisconsin, had a host of top-50 performances in the region in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Indoors, she had the 17th-best 5K time (17:48.12), the 18th-fastest 3K (10:11.72) and the 36th-best mile (5:13.61). Outdoors, her 5K time of 17:38.56 in April set a new school record and placed her 17th in the region, while her 37:41.32 performance in the 10K was also in the top-25 regionally (24th).
 
Flyte, a senior English and Secondary Education major from Coloma, Wisconsin, had wildly successful cross country and track and field campaigns this past season. She took 15th at the North Regional cross country meet, qualifying her for the 2023 NCAA Championships – Ripon's first selection there since 2012. In the outdoor track season, her 10K time of 36:15.03 was the ninth-best in the region and a new school record, while her best 5K time (17:39.09), 1500 time (4:51.66) and 3000-meter steeplechase time (12:23.78) were 19th, 41st and 46th in the region, respectively. Indoors, she was 15th in the region in the 5K (17:43.55), 22nd in the 3K (10:17.84) and 28th in the mile (5:10.33).
 
Otzelberger, a senior Neuroscience major from Waukesha, Wisconsin, earned the 18th-best outdoor discus throw at the NCAA Final Qualifier in May, going 42.39m for a new school record. Also outdoors, she was 30th in the shot put regionally (12.36m) and 50th in the hammer (42.61m). Indoors, the senior was 23rd in the shot put (12.73m) and 50th in the weight throw (14.25m).
 
Sherman, a junior Exercise Science – Human Performance major from Eagle River, Alaska, earned Academic All-District honors with a pair of outdoor, top-50 regional performances: She was 41st in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 12:16.07 and 42nd in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:10.93.
 
Kobylski, a senior Exercise Science and Pre-Physical Therapy major from Mauston, Wisconsin, tossed the javelin 34.34m in Ripon's first outdoor meet of the season to give her the 32nd-best mark regionally.
 
Ripon swept both the indoor and outdoor Midwest Conference team titles in both men's and women's track and field in 2024. Cefalu, Dameco Walker and Jenny Cortes all qualified for the Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships in March, while Walker and Ben Fisher represented Ripon on the national stage at outdoor nationals in May. Walker was named a first team All-American in both the indoor long jump and triple jump competitions. Both the Ripon men's and women's cross country teams took third at the conference meet in October.
 
FOLLOW: Follow Ripon College Red Hawks Athletics on Facebook and @RiponRedHawks on Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to riponredhawks.com for all information, releases and schedules.